


An Embarrassing Savior

by WeirdLittleStories



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: Adventure, Chocolate and its effects on Vulcans, Friendship but no romances, Gen, Saving Spock and Vulcan from nasty telepathic parasites
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-12-11
Updated: 2014-09-25
Packaged: 2018-01-04 07:40:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1078328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WeirdLittleStories/pseuds/WeirdLittleStories
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Spock is attacked by a creature that kills telepaths by consuming the energy of telepathic minds, Kirk tries many things to save him.</p><p>Later, the boys work on saving Vulcan from an unusual threat.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The current mission had seemed completely routine until Spock collapsed.  
  
The _Enterprise_ was transporting Ambassador Chan and her staff to Starbase Eleven, and while Kirk was never thrilled with providing taxi service, Ambassador Chan was less arrogant than most Federation dignitaries, making her a more pleasant guest than many. Kirk had personally given the ambassador and her secretary a tour of the ship, and all of the senior officers had donned dress uniforms for a formal dinner in her honor, which had gone well. It was customary to take honored guests to the Observation Deck after dinner, and the entire group had just reached it when Spock suddenly passed out.  
  
McCoy dropped to his knees beside Spock and examined him as the others watched.  
  
"Well?" Kirk asked.  
  
"His heartbeat's strong, and his breathing is regular. I can't tell you more without instruments," McCoy said. "Help me get him to sickbay."  
  
Kirk picked up Spock's shoulders while Sulu grabbed his feet, and the two of them carried Spock quickly and carefully to sickbay, depositing him on a diagnostic bed. Alarmed by the sudden collapse, everyone else trailed along behind them, no one quite having the presence of mind to dismiss the ambassador and her secretary.  
  
As Kirk waited anxiously by the bed and the others stood quietly in the background, McCoy performed a quick examination. The doctor found only that Spock was deeply unconscious, which they already knew. He was just beginning a longer and more thorough examination when Matthew Hansen, the ambassador's secretary, began to laugh.  
  
"Examine him all you want," Hansen said, "You won't be able to do anything for him."  
  
"You know something about this?" Kirk demanded.  
  
"I've given him a Rigelian mindworm. They _eat_ telepathic minds, and it'll gobble up your Vulcan until there's nothing left."  
  
"Explain!"  
  
"Rigelian mindworms are non-corporeal and survive solely on energy — telepathic energy — which they consume until there's nothing left of the mind that produces that energy. They aren't dangerous to humans, because WE aren't telepathic, so it won't hurt anyone else on the ship, only your first officer. But once it's eaten his mental energy, your Vulcan will be very, very dead."  
  
"What can be done to save him?"  
  
"I won't tell you. And you can't get it out of me because your telepath is unconscious, and he's going to stay that way."  
  
Kirk looked fierce. "There are other ways of making a man talk."  
  
Hansen laughed. "There are, but YOU won't use them. The Federation prohibits torture, because we're all good little boys and girls nowadays. We can't wipe out the Klingons or exterminate the Romulans because those Vulcan pacifists have cut off Earth's balls. We'll see some changes once all the Vulcans are dead."  
  
"Even if you succeed in killing my first officer, there are billions of Vulcans. Killing just one won't make any difference."  
  
Hansen's eyes took on the fanatic glaze that Kirk had already seen on far too many faces, on far too many worlds. "This is just the test case. My people have figured out how to breed Rigelian mindworms in captivity, and now we can breed billions of them and wipe out all the pointy-eared pacifists."  
  
Kirk gestured to Sulu and Chekov. "Put this piece of shit in the brig before I bring about that uncivilized future he wants so badly." Sulu and Chekov marched Hanson off to the brig as Kirk turned back to McCoy. "Bones! Now that you know what it is, can you do something?"  
  
McCoy shook his head. "I"m sorry, Jim. I've never heard of a way to reverse the effects of a Rigelian mindworm."  
  
"There must be something you can do! Hansen swore there was something you could do."  
  
"We don't know that he was telling the truth, Jim. He may have said that just to wind you up."  
  
"We can't just stand here and let some ... THING destroy Spock's mind."  
  
McCoy sighed. "Come up with a sensible treatment, and I'll be glad to apply it, but Rigelian mindworms are so rare that I'd thought they were nothing but a rumor up till now. Dealing with telepathic creatures just isn't something I've been trained to do."  
  
Kirk looked at McCoy sadly. "No, it isn't, is it? That's always been Spock's job. But now we don't have Spock."  
  
"Captain," Ambassador Chan spoke. "I can't tell you how sorry I am that such evil has been perpetrated by a member of my staff. If there's anything I can do..."  
  
Kirk looked at the ambassador. "Yes, there's something you can do. Find out all you can about Matthew Hansen. You had to have investigated his background before taking him on as your secretary; dig out that information now. Who does he listen to? Who holds his leash? Is there anyone who can talk him into divulging the secret for getting that mindworm off of my First Officer?"  
  
Ambassador Chan nodded gravely. "You can be sure I'll try, Captain," she said, before leaving in the direction of the guest quarters.  
  
"Captain," Scotty said once the ambassador had left, "If that bastard's so fond of violence, maybe we should give 'im some to make him talk!"  
  
Kirk put a hand on Scotty's shoulder. "I want to, too, Scotty, but you know we can't. Our principles don't mean anything if we throw them away at the first sign of trouble."  
  
"Torture is always wrong, Scotty," Uhura said. "You know that. Why, Spock would be the first person to tell us that."  
  
Scotty hung his head. "Aye."  
  
Kirk dropped his hand from Scotty's shoulder. "Get some rest, both of you. If Mr. Spock is out of commission, I'll be leaning on both of you even more than usual. Sleep while you can."  
  
Uhura looked sadly at Spock, unconscious in the biobed. "I'm not sure any of us will be able to sleep, Captain, but we'll get out of your hair at least. Come on, Scotty." The two of them left sickbay.  
  
Kirk moved to Spock's bedside and put a hand on his first officer's forehead. "I can't believe there's something in here, consuming everything that makes him Spock." He looked at McCoy, tears in his eyes now that they were alone. "How can there be nothing we can do?"  
  
"We could comm Sarek or T'Pau, see if they know of any way to defeat Rigelian mindworms."  
  
Kirk nodded. "Do it."

McCoy went into his office and placed the call, while Kirk paced back and forth beside his first officer's bed, talking to the Vulcan, even though he knew Spock couldn't hear him. "You're not just the only telepath on board this ship, you're also the science officer. Even if you weren't telepathic, I'd turn to the science officer for information about Rigelian mindworms. It isn't just my first officer who's out of commission, it's my science officer, too." He paused and thought. "First officer AND science officer. Vulcan AND human." He turned to face the door of McCoy's office and shouted. "Bones!"  
  
McCoy came back into the room. "I called Sarek, and the Vulcans can't help; they don't know of any way to get rid of a Rigelian mindworm once it's attached itself to a host."  
  
Kirk waved his hand, brushing that aside. "Thanks for making the call, but that's not what I wanted to see you about. Bones! Spock is _half human_."  
  
"Yeah, so?"  
  
"This thing attacks Vulcans! Can we bring the human part of his mind to the fore, get that part of him to work with us on getting rid of the mindworm?"  
  
"Jim, it doesn't work like that. He's not divisible into halves; he's Spock all the way through. His brain doesn't have a human lobe and a Vulcan lobe; you can't separate him into portions."  
  
Kirk stared at him. "You're the one who's always reminding him that he's half human. You talk about his human half all the time, as if it _is_ a separate piece of him."  
  
"I know I have, and I've been wrong. This crisis has shown me that. But ... a Georgia boy knows all about mules. Do they still have mules in Iowa?"  
  
"Our farm was heavily mechanized; the only animals we had were pets, and no, we didn't have any mules among them. Why?"  
  
"Well, a mule is a cross between a horse and a donkey. A mule lives longer than a horse, and they're hardier and more sure-footed. But they're faster than donkeys, more intelligent, and less obstinate."  
  
"So?"  
  
"So a mule isn't a horse's head on a donkey's body. It doesn't have the forelegs of a horse and the hind legs of a donkey; a mule is 100% MULE."  
  
"You're saying that Spock isn't half human and half Vulcan; he's 100% Spock."  
  
"That's right."  
  
"Well, maybe so, but knowing that doesn't give me any options. Treating him as half and half gives me a plan."  
  
"What plan?"  
  
"We call to his human side, get that side to wake up if we can, get it to help us figure out how to get rid of the mindworm."  
  
McCoy shook his head. "I don't have a better plan, so I guess I got nothing to say."  
  
"Get Nurse Chapel in here," Kirk said, then turned to the bed where Spock lay so quietly.  
  
Nurse Chapel entered the room, and Dr. McCoy quietly filled her in on Spock's condition and Kirk's plan.  
  
Kirk pulled up a chair and sat down next to the bed, grabbing Spock's hand and holding it while he talked to him. "Spock, it's Jim. I need to talk to your human half. Remember during the Psi 2000 virus, when you told me you felt ashamed because you felt friendship for me? Remember when I told Garth that you and I were brothers, and you agreed with me? Feel my hand, think about all we've been through together. We're good friends even though Vulcans don't really believe in friendship!" He looked up. "Nurse Chapel!"  
  
"Yes, sir?"  
  
"Spock will die unless we can get his human half to take over. Will you kiss him for me?"  
  
"Jim," McCoy said, "He's not Sleeping Beauty. You're grasping at straws."  
  
"Yes," Kirk said, "And I'm going to keep ON grasping at straws until one of them works or until Spock is dead." He turned to Nurse Chapel. "Christine? You don't mind, do you?"  
  
Christine Chapel swallowed and shook her head. "No. No, I don't mind." She leaned over Spock and gently kissed his unconscious lips.  
  
McCoy took another reading. "He's not as deeply unconscious as he was, but he's still too far down to be close to waking up. Have you got anything besides the hand of a friend or the kiss of a crush?"  
  
"Bones," Kirk said. "I've heard that chocolate gets Vulcans drunk, that it's an intoxicant for them, the way alcohol is for us."  
  
"I've heard that too," McCoy said, "But I don't know if it's true or if it's just a rumor."  
  
"Can you give him chocolate intravenously? Can you get his Vulcan half drunk?"  
  
"I don't know what the active ingredient in chocolate is for a Vulcan, if there's an active ingredient at all, and I can't put chocolate into an IV."  
  
"No, Doctor," Nurse Chapel said, "But we can feed him plain chocolate using a nasogastric tube."  
  
"I guess it's worth a try," McCoy said. "I'll insert the tube; you find some chocolate."  
  
"Yes, Doctor," Nurse Chapel said.  
  
McCoy deftly inserted a tube through Spock's nose and into his stomach, and Nurse Chapel returned with chocolate that she'd ground up and mixed with water, forming a chocolate slurry.  
  
"I have no idea of the dosage," McCoy said.  
  
"If you get him good and drunk, there's no harm done," Kirk said, "But if this doesn't work, he dies."  
  
"Right," McCoy said. "I'll try 200 grams, then." He fed Spock the chocolate slurry, then turned to Kirk. "This isn't like a hypo; since it has to be digested, it won't work instantly." He removed the tube and gently wiped off Spock's face.  
  
"Then let's continue with the other plan while we wait for the chocolate to digest. Christine, can you kiss him again?"  
  
"I'd be happy to," she said, "But he and I aren't really close."  She looked at McCoy.  "Leonard, is there something you can do, not as his doctor but as his friend?"  
  
Kirk looked consideringly at McCoy.  "Maybe you should insult him."  
  
"You sure that wouldn't make him want to stay unconscious?"  
  
"No, he'll want to have the last word. Give it your all."  
  
McCoy looked at Spock, unable to find the insults that usually came to his mind so readily, now that his friend was unconscious, maybe dying. He seized on the most recent idea. "Only a damned Vulcan could get drunk on something as innocuous as chocolate. What a lightweight! Human children can eat twice this much and only get tooth decay."  
  
Spock's eyelids fluttered, and Kirk motioned to Chapel and McCoy. "More," he said urgently, as he grabbed Spock's hand and squeezed it hard.  
  
Christine pressed another gentle kiss to Spock's lips while McCoy continued speaking, "My daughter can eat twice this much chocolate and still have room for dinner!"  
  
Spock opened his eyes. "You have successfully anesthetized the telepathic centers of my brain, and the creature has departed. Thank you, Dr. McCoy."  
  
"It was Jim's idea."  
  
Spock sat up and inclined his head graciously. "Thank you, Jim."  
  
Kirk looked at him suspiciously. "You don't sound drunk."  
  
"I am, I believe, slightly tipsy. The effect should wear off soon."  
  
"You know what's never gonna wear off?" McCoy asked.  
  
"What, Doctor?"  
  
"The knowledge that you were saved by your human half."  
  
"Indeed. It is the first time my human half has ever proved useful." Spock raised a brow. "Undoubtedly, it will also be the last."  
  
Kirk laughed. "You're a mean drunk, Mr. Spock!"  
  
Spock, aware that he was being teased, pretended to look affronted, and his friends laughed in relief to see him alive and well and only slightly drunk.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1.  It is fanon, not canon, that chocolate makes Vulcans drunk, but it's such widespread fanon that I thought most readers of fan fiction would be familiar with the idea.
> 
> 2\. If drunk-on-chocolate Spock seems just like normal Spock, that's intentional. I think that Vulcan controls go DEEP, and it would take more than a little chocolate to get our favorite Vulcan to behave differently. Spores that can _remake a person's entire body_ (such as in the episode "This Side of Paradise") — okay, yeah, those could have an effect. A little chocolate, no. So in this story, the chocolate has a physiological effect, but Spock's behavior is still the same. (People who love having a drunk-and-goofy Spock can, of course, make other assumptions; I'm just explaining what my assumptions are.) 
> 
> 3\. The facts about mules given in this story are true to the best of my (and Wikipedia's) knowledge. People often talk about Spock's "human half" and "Vulcan half" — even in the episodes — as if they were individual entities, wrestling for control of the body. But Spock doesn't have Dissociative Identity Disorder! He's a single individual. Sure, he's sometimes torn between the demands of Vulcan culture and the limitations of half-human biology, but seeing him as two separate people locked in eternal combat just feels wrong to me. So I had McCoy explain about mules. :-)
> 
> 4\. With all due respect to Walter Koenig, I think Chekov's accent is ridiculous, since it's nothing at all like a real Russian accent. Hence, I refuse to reproduce it in print, and my Chekov speaks like all the other characters. (In other words, when my Chekov says "Captain" instead of "Keptin," it's intentional. ;-D)
> 
> 5\. I like the era of the TV show much better than the era of the movies. So, like most of my stories, this one takes place during the first five-year mission.
> 
> 6\. Thanks for reading!


	2. Planning

* * *

  
Sickbay, only a few minutes later:

  
Now that Spock was conscious, Kirk watched as McCoy examined the Vulcan and pronounced him healthy.  Spock got out of the biobed and stood beside it, looking at his two friends.  "Perhaps you could tell me what transpired while I was unconscious," he said.  
  
Kirk said, "We were giving the ambassador and her secretary a tour of the ship when you collapsed on the Observation Deck.  McCoy couldn't tell what was wrong with you, even after we got you to sickbay."  
  
"You should not blame the doctor for his inability to detect the mindworm," Spock said.  "Rigelian mindworms are not detectable by normal sensors and can only be detected by telepathic minds."  
  
"By _normal_ sensors," Kirk said.  "Does that mean that you can adjust the sensors to pick them up?"  
  
Spock shook his head.  "Negative.  No sensor setting known to me can register the existence of a mindworm.  I deduce, however, that such a sensor must have been invented, along with several other managing techniques, in order for a mindworm to be used as an instrument of assassination."  
  
Kirk smiled.  "You've been unconscious since this whole thing began, you're drunk on chocolate, and you're still thinking rings around everyone else."  
  
Spock raised a brow.  "It is merely my duty as science officer, to monitor advances in sensor technology and to evaluate the probabilities associated with recent events."  He paused.  "How did you discover the existence of the mindworm?  Has the perpetrator confessed?"  
  
"Confessed, gloated, and all but twirled his mustache, like the villain in a bad holovid," McCoy said grumpily.  
  
"It was the ambassador's secretary, then?"  Spock asked.  
  
Kirk nodded.  "He's a fanatic, one who blames Vulcan pacifism for the Federation's moderate stance in foreign affairs.  He seems to think that if he can somehow exterminate all Vulcans, the Federation will declare war on the Klingon and Romulan Empires."  
  
Spock look troubled.  "If he and his co-conspirators have discovered novel techniques for the propagation and management of Rigelian mindworms, they may well succeed in decimating Vulcan.  And if they should manage to make the attack on Vulcan appear to come from the Klingons or the Romulans, they could well begin the war Mr. Hanson appears to desire."  
  
McCoy made a sound of disbelief.  "But there are billions of Vulcans, Spock!  Maybe he could pick off one or two, or even a hundred, but Vulcan as a whole should be in no danger."  
  
Spock shook his head.  "Vulcan has been in no danger until now because Rigelian mindworms are exceedingly rare and because they do not possess the ability to travel through the vacuum of space.  If mindworms are being deployed as a weapon, however, then the conspirators must have developed mechanisms for their propagation and transport."  
  
"Hansen did say that his people had figured out how to make mindworms breed in captivity," Kirk said.  
  
Spock looked intently at Kirk.  "Then Vulcan is in grave danger.  There is no known defense against a mindworm, nor is there any known treatment.  A single mindworm can consume the minds of an unlimited number of telepaths.  The sole factor that has permitted Vulcan to remain free of mindworms is that it requires 1.57 days for for the creature to completely consume its host."  
  
"If there's no defense and no treatment, what good does a day and a half do you?" McCoy asked.  
  
Spock drew himself up stiffly, knowing how the doctor would take what he was about to say.  "The time allows the sufferer to be discovered, placed into a capsule, and launched into space.  Once the mindworm has finished consuming the mind of its host, it finds no further sustenance, nor can it travel further.  It is effectively neutralized."  
  
McCoy looked outraged.  "Your cold-blooded race condemns sick people to death and launches them into space, to die alone?"  
  
"No, Doctor.  It is the mindworm that condemns the sufferer to death.  My race merely takes the only logical course of action.  We remove a dangerous predator from our planet, so that it does not prey upon others."  McCoy opened his mouth to speak, and Spock held up a hand to silence him, continuing on.  "The host would request to be launched into space, if he or she were conscious, in order to spare others a similar fate.  Retaining the host on the planet serves no useful purpose; launching the sufferer into space does."  
  
"I've got a more important consideration," Kirk said.  "Where is the mindworm that was preying on Spock?  We can't detect it, so how can we be sure it's gone?"  
  
"Sensors cannot detect it, but a telepathic mind can.  Once the chocolate has been purged from my system, I should be able to detect any mindworms in the vicinity.  I do not doubt, though, that this one has exited the ship.  Although they feed upon telepathic energy, mindworms are not, themselves, intelligent.  The mindworm does not possess the necessary mental capacity to plan or reason, so it will not have deduced your stratagem and decided to wait nearby for the effects of the chocolate to dissipate.  Once it could no longer detect telepathic energy in my brain, it would have moved on."  
  
"But how do we know that it didn't move on just to the next room or to the bridge?" McCoy asked.  
  
"Mindworms have a characteristic movement pattern, and the creature who attacked me would have continued in that pattern until it encountered another telepathic mind or until it perished in the vacuum of space.  Given its usual pattern and rate of speed, the parasite should have exited the ship while the doctor was still examining me.  I will, of course, survey the ship to confirm this once my telepathic centers are again active."  
  
"Yes," Kirk said, "I think that will be the first order of business once your telepathy comes back online.  But the second order of business will be to meld with Hansen, to get what he knows of the plot against you and against Vulcan."  
  
"I doubt that Mr. Hansen will consent to such a procedure," Spock said.  
  
"I don't care if he agrees!  He's trying to decimate a Federation planet and start interstellar war; as far as I'm concerned, he's given up all rights to privacy."  
  
Spock shook his head.  "Forcing a meld on an unwilling participant is a serious matter, and it is only ethical to do so in rare circumstances."  
  
"Hansen confessed, Spock!"  McCoy said.  "He admitted that he set the mindworm on you deliberately.  He was gloating."  
  
Spock looked at Kirk.  "You, also, witnessed this confession?"  
  
"I did.  You can meld with me, if you want to, and see his confession for yourself."  
  
"Thank you, Captain.  Once I am again capable, I will do so.  I have complete faith in your testimony, but Vulcan law governing involuntary telepathic contact is strict — as it should be — and I will need to experience his confession for myself."  
  
Kirk smiled.  "No offense taken.  I thought it might be something like that."  
  
The door to sickbay swished open, and all three men turned to greet Ambassador Chan as she entered the room.  She stopped in surprise as soon as she saw Spock apparently well and conscious.  
  
"Mr. Spock!  I'm happy to see you awake and aware.  Are you ... undamaged?"  
  
Spock inclined his head graciously.  "Thank you, Madam Ambassador.  I am well and should suffer no long-term ill effects.  I merely require a period of meditation to restore my telepathic energy."  
  
"That's very good news!  I can't express how sorry I am that the perpetrator of this atrocity is someone I brought on board the _Enterprise_.  You will have my full cooperation in testifying against him when he's brought to trial."  
  
Kirk smiled at the ambassador.  "Thank you, Ambassador; we all appreciate that.  Did you manage to find the information I asked for on Hansen?"  
  
"Yes, Captain.  I hired him eight months ago, and a routine background check turned up no questionable associations.  He did have an unfortunate experience in his recent past, but he told me about it during the interview, and it seemed like a good reason to have him on the staff, not a reason why he'd attack a Starfleet officer."  
  
"What experience is that?"  
  
"Hansen's wife, Angela Jalloh, was a Federation physician.  During the Aldebaran civil war, she was part of an expedition to that planet to pick up some plant specimens that were needed to combat a plague on Fornax.  The Southern faction took her hostage in an attempt to get the Federation to side with them during mediation.  The Federation ambassador in charge of the mediation reminded the Southern faction that it is Federation policy not to negotiate with hostage-takers, and Dr. Jalloh was killed."  
  
Spock stiffened.  "Which Federation ambassador was in charge of the mediation?"  
  
"Sarek of Vulcan," Ambassador Chan said.    
  
Kirk muttered "Damn" as McCoy muttered "It figures," but Chan continued speaking, "That may be why he decided to blame Vulcans for all his troubles, though really, any Federation ambassador would have done exactly the same thing."  
  
Spock exhaled audibly.  "Any Federation ambassador would have done the same thing, but perhaps not in the same way.  A human ambassador would undoubtedly have sympathized with Mr. Hansen and apologized for the unfortunate effects of this particular policy, whereas Sarek would merely have told him that the policy was logical."  
  
Ambassador Chan looked at Spock curiously.  "I've worked with Sarek before, and you're right, that's probably what he did.  You know Vulcan's ambassador, then?"  
  
Spock's face hardened.  "Sarek is my father."  
  
Ambassador Chan's mouth dropped open for a moment before she regained her composure.  "Ah," she said, looking at Spock.  "So that's why Hansen was so set on using you as a test case."  
  
"Indeed."  
   
Kirk took a step toward the ambassador.  "You said Hansen told you about this episode with his wife during the interview?"  
  
Chan nodded.  "He said that what happened to his wife made him realize the importance of negotiation, of nipping conflicts in the bud before they progressed to open war.  He said it had all given him an appreciation for the difficulty of an ambassador's job and how much we needed good help."  
  
Kirk looked skeptical.  "He was plausible?"  
  
"Very plausible," Ambassador Chan said.  "An ambassador's staff has to put up with an enormous amount of frustration, but they get very little of the glory or privilege that ambassadors get.  When hiring staff, we deliberately look for someone who has a sense of mission, who has a personal reason for wanting to work on negotiations.  The kind of person who just wants a job or who thinks it will be glamorous generally doesn't last very long."  
  
McCoy tilted his head to one side.  "It sounds to me like he knew just what to say to you to get you to give him the job."  
  
Spock raised an eyebrow.  "One wonders if he had coaching from your existing staff."  
  
The ambassador nodded her head grimly.  "That's looking all too probable."  She looked down for a moment, took a deep breath, then looked back up.  "I think my first order of business will be to hire a security firm to do an in-depth investigation of _all_ of my staff -- what organizations they belong to, who they associate with, who they've known since they were born."  She sighed.  "I prefer to trust my employees, but it's become clear that this is no longer a wise policy."  
  
Spock nodded at the ambassador.  "My father appreciated the maxim 'Trust but verify.'"  
  
The ambassador sighed.  "With opponents, of course.  I had hoped not to treat my employees as opponents, but I no longer have that luxury.  I suppose I never did."  She swallowed and lifted her head, clearly putting on her ambassadorial dignity, then spoke in a more formal tone.  "I regret that my naiveté has enabled my employee to cause you harm."  
  
Spock inclined his head.  "The harm to me is transitory; it is fortunate that this lesson cost so little."  
  
Ambassador Chan nodded back.  "I appreciate your graciousness."  She turned to Kirk and McCoy.  "If that is all, gentlemen, I'll retire to my room now.  I'll let you know the results of the security check once it has been completed."  
  
Kirk smiled charmingly.  "We appreciate that, Ambassador.  Although the threat to my first officer is over, the threat to Vulcan remains, and any information you dig up will be welcome."  
  
Chan nodded, then left the room.  
  
Spock said, "If you gentlemen will excuse me, I will also retire.  I require substantial meditation in order to replenish my telepathic energies."

"And _sleep,_ Spock," McCoy said.  "Meditate all you need to, but I also want you to get some shut-eye."

Spock nodded.  "I will do so."  He turned towards the door.

"Hold on a minute, and I'll walk with you," Kirk said.  He turned to McCoy.  "Bones, can you call Sarek back and let him know his son's not dead?  And can you examine Hansen and see if there's any insanity present or if he's fanatical but sane?"  
  
"I'll take care of it, Jim," McCoy said.  
  
Kirk and Spock left sickbay and walked down the corridor towards the turbolift.  Once they were inside it, Kirk said "Deck 5," then turned to Spock.  "I know you don't like to display any weakness in front of McCoy, but I need to know your state in some detail.  How are you really?"  
  
Spock allowed himself to slump slightly.  "I am considerably fatigued, which I find illogical.  Rationally, I should feel fatigue only when using telepathic energy, which I am not currently attempting."  
  
Kirk smiled fondly at his friend.  "Spock, there was a parasite in your brain, _eating your mental energy._   I think it's completely reasonable that you feel tired.  Anyone else would be not just exhausted but traumatized by the experience."  He raised a hand to forestall the protest he feared would follow his words.  "I know you're a Vulcan, and I'm sure you'll tell me that they don't do psychological trauma.  But the doctor prescribed rest, and your captain orders you to rest, so you don't have to think about whether or not it's logical; just do it."  
  
Spock spoke mildly.  "Resting when depleted is only logical, Captain.  I will follow your order, but I assure you that it is superfluous."

~**~

 

Early the next morning, the senior officers of the _Enterprise_ gathered around the long table in the briefing room to discuss the situation.     
  
Kirk called the meeting to order, then turned to Spock.  "Report on the mindworm?"  
  
The meditation had clearly done Spock a lot of good, since he appeared rested and energetic once more.  "I have surveyed the entire ship, and the mindworm is not in evidence.  I conclude, then, that the one who attacked me is gone.  I wonder, however, about the existence of others."  
  
"Others?" Kirk said.  "If Hansen had others, shouldn't you have been able to detect them?"  
  
"Ordinarily, I would have been able to detect the one that Mr. Hansen used to attack me, but I did not.  This suggests that he and his conspirators have discovered a way to shield mindworms from detection until they wish to use them."  
  
"Damn!"  Kirk thought for a moment.  "Are there any substances that block telepathic energies?  Is there a mineral or a metal or something that Hansen could make a container out of, one that would make the mindworm undetectable?"  
  
"I know of no such substance," Spock said, "But I infer that one has been invented or discovered, or Mr. Hansen could not have brought the mindworm onto the ship without detection."  
  
Kirk frowned.  "Then you could be attacked at any time, without warning."  
  
"Since mindworms cannot travel through space, I could only be attacked by a mindworm that had been deliberately brought aboard the _Enterprise._   Was Mr. Hansen searched when he was confined to the brig?"  
  
Kirk looked at Sulu and Chekov.  "Was he?"  
  
Sulu cleared his throat.  "Of course, Captain.  He had a small box, made out of some kind of strange stone, which we confiscated.  Chekov scanned it with a tricorder, and it seemed empty."  
  
Kirk turned to Chekov.  "Report of your tricorder scan, Mr. Chekov?"  
  
Chekov put a small stone box on the conference table.  "Tricorder readings show the box is composed of an unknown mineral, very dense.  I've never seen anything like it."  
  
Kirk held up a hand.  "DON'T open the box."  He turned to Spock.  "Before McCoy force-fed you chocolate, we weren't even sure if the rumors about Vulcans and chocolate were true.  Now we know that they are, but force-feeding you chocolate during a dangerous situation could be ... cumbersome.  Do you happen to know what the active ingredient in chocolate is?  What is it that knocks out your telepathic centers?"  
  
"Phenethylamine," Spock said.  "It is a natural monoamine alkaloid that functions as a neuromodulator or neurotransmitter in the mammalian central nervous system.  It belongs to a class of substances, all of which have psychoactive properties."  
  
McCoy grinned teasingly.  "It's also sometimes called 'the love chemical.'  I should have known that Vulcans would be allergic to it."  
  
Kirk waved his hand.  "Not now, Bones!  Can you make up several hypos, each containing the amount of phenethylamine that was in the chocolate you fed Spock last night?"  
  
"Sure, nothing could be simpler.  How many do you want?"  
  
Kirk counted on his fingers.  "Make up a dozen.  I'll want Spock to have two on him at all times.  In addition, I want each of us here to carry one, plus four for the security team we'll be taking with us eventually."  Kirk looked around the table at each of the officers seated there.  "If any one of you finds Mr. Spock unconscious at any time, I expect you to inject him with your hypo immediately."  
  
Nods all around, and murmurs of "Of course, Captain."  
  
"Jim," McCoy said.  
  
"Yes, Bones?"  
  
"The chocolate wasn't the only treatment we applied last night.  I don't know if the rest of it was necessary or not, but Spock did get slightly closer to consciousness, even before we force-fed him the chocolate."  
  
Spock looked at Kirk and raised a questioning brow.  
  
Kirk turned slightly red.  "Before we thought of the chocolate, we were trying to appeal to your human side in any way possible.  We tried a lot of things, grasping at straws."  
  
"Given that you saved my life, I am in no position to object to any treatment you may have attempted, yet it appears that you are embarrassed.  Of what, exactly, did this treatment consist?"  
  
Kirk tamped down his embarrassment and focused on the fact that his first officer was alive.  "I held your hand and talked about our friendship.  I called your name and asked you to come to consciousness.  I, uh, I asked Nurse Chapel to kiss you, and I asked Dr. McCoy to insult you."  
  
Spock turned to Kirk with a softly teasing look.  "I am ... impressed by your inventiveness.  Although I believe the phenethylamine was the medically active ingredient in your therapeutic regimen, I repeat that I have no objections to a treatment that saved my life."  He raised a teasing brow.  "I suggest that you begin with an injection of phenethylamine if I am attacked again and add the other elements of your treatment only if the hypo is ineffective."  
  
Kirk chuckled.  "A hypo is faster and less trouble, so I'll follow that recommendation, Mr. Spock."  He turned to McCoy.  "Have you had a chance to examine Hansen, Bones?"  
  
"I have, and there's nothing medically wrong with him.  He's an idiot, but he's legally sane."  
  
"He's up to a mind meld, then?"  
  
"Medically, yes.  Given the way he feels about Vulcans, you'll need to restrain him for it, but it shouldn't cause him any harm."  
  
"All right," Kirk said.  "I don't want Spock melding with Hansen until we have those hypos handy, just in case Hansen has another mindworm that we didn't manage to find.  So, Bones, you go make up those hypos and distribute them as soon as they're ready.  Spock, you mind-meld with me so that you can witness Hansen's confession, so you'll be ethically in the clear to force an interrogation on Hansen.  The rest of you, mind the bridge for us. Scotty, you have the conn."  
  
Scotty said, "Aye, Captain," and the crew scattered to do Kirk's bidding.   
  
Spock swiveled his chair and raised his hand toward Kirk's face. "Whenever you are ready, Captain," he said.  
  
Kirk nodded.  "Do it."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's true that chocolate contains phenethylamine, and that phenethylamine is sometimes called "the love chemical." Its effects on Vulcans are purely the author's fancy, however. :-)
> 
> For more information on phenethylamine and chocolate, see [this article](http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/chocolate-high1.htm) at HowStuffWorks or [this one](http://www.medicinehunter.com/chocolate_love_drug) at MedicineHunter.


	3. Melds and Musings

Spock pressed his fingers to the captain's psi points, murmuring the ritual words to invoke the mind meld. His mind slid easily into Kirk's, and Kirk concentrated on his memory of the previous night's events. Spock witnessed Hansen's confession with his usual analytical calm, then eased gently out of the meld.  
  
"You saw Hansen confess?" Kirk asked.  
  
"I did," the Vulcan said, "But I confess that I am skeptical." At Kirk's affronted look, he added, "Not skeptical of you or of your memory of events; I accept that events transpired as you remember them. But his confession was illogical."  
  
Kirk smiled. "Humans are often illogical; surely you know that by now."  
  
Spock exhaled just lightly enough that it could not quite be called a sigh. "I am well aware of that, Jim, believe me. But think for a moment. What could Mr. Hansen hope to gain by confessing? His crime would not have been traceable to him without his confession. So what purpose did that confession serve?"  
  
Kirk grew thoughtful. "I thought he'd confessed because he hated Vulcans so much that he couldn't keep from gloating, but now that you mention it, it does seem strange that someone who'd planned to attack you eight months in advance didn't have the self-control to keep from giving himself away."  
  
Spock inclined his head. "Precisely. If his confession was deliberate, there is one purpose that I find extremely likely."  
  
Kirk clenched a fist. "He could be protecting someone else, diverting our attention from a bigger fish ... which could be the ambassador, herself."  
  
"The probability that he is protecting someone else approaches 89.4%, though I find it unlikely that this would be Ambassador Chan. Federation ambassadors are subject to intense scrutiny on an ongoing basis, precisely because ensuring their loyalty is so crucial."  
  
"I guess you have some personal experience with that, from your childhood with Sarek."  
  
"Indeed. It is not publicized, but a team of Vulcan specialists regularly mind-melds with Federation ambassadors, precisely to ensure not just that they remain loyal to the Federation but also that their loyalty will be unquestionable in situations like this one. But while the ambassadors themselves are subject to such scrutiny, oversight of an ambassador's staff is usually left to the ambassador's discretion."  
  
Kirk scowled. "And this ambassador is very nearly naive."  
  
"Almost certainly the conspirators chose to infiltrate the staff of this particular ambassador for precisely that reason." Spock frowned. "Idealists generally have laudable goals, but their methods are frequently less laudable, such as trusting a staff member who has been in her employ for less than a year."  
  
Kirk stood up and began to pace. "Where's Bones? I don't want you melding with Hansen until we have those phenethylamine hypos handy, but we need to find out what he knows."  
  
Spock watched his captain pace. "There is another concern I would like to raise."  
  
Kirk turned to face him. "Let's have it!"  
  
"Mr. Hansen confessed not just to attacking me with a mindworm but also to plans to attack Vulcan. Such a plan would require substantial resources, suggesting that the attack is not the work of a single individual or even of a pair of individuals but rather of a group, one that has both the scientific knowledge and the financial resources necessary to carry out basic research."  
  
Kirk frowned. "And that kind of thing doesn't come cheap. Who's funding them?" He resumed pacing. "And where are they finding scientists who are willing to do secret research on methods of genocide?"

"It is possible that the scientist or scientists who are doing the work are unaware of the uses to which their research will be put. If so, then the group may work under the auspices of a legitimate organization."  
  
"You mean they masquerade as a legitimate organization? Or there's an actual legitimate organization that doesn't know about the cancer growing inside it?"  
  
"We have insufficient data at present to answer that question. But Jim," Spock looked intently at Kirk, "If a legitimate organization is involved, even unknowingly, then reporting the events of the past 24 hours to Starfleet is unwise. We have no assurances that Starfleet is not the legitimate organization in question."  
  
Kirk scowled. "But how can we investigate without letting Starfleet know? We'll almost certainly get new orders as soon as we drop off Ambassador Chan."  
  
Spock looked slightly uncomfortable. "There is a ... powerful individual ... we can trust, one who can ask that the _Enterprise_ be assigned to assist him in some endeavor that we can leave to his devising."  
  
Kirk stopped pacing and whirled to face Spock. "Sarek! He's a Federation ambassador, so we know his loyalty to the Federation is unquestionable, and he would never be behind an attack on Vulcan, anyway." He paused and looked questioningly at Spock. "I know that relations between you and your father are better than they were, but I also know that he still disapproves of your career in Starfleet. What effect will it have on you to ask him for help?"  
  
Spock stiffened. "I do not intend to ask _my father_ for help. I suggest that the _Captain of the Enterprise_ report the danger to Vulcan _to the Vulcan ambassador,_ describe our concerns that a legitimate organization may be involved, and request that the ambassador assist the _Enterprise_ in investigating and neutralizing this threat to Vulcan."  
  
Kirk smiled. "Okay, if that's the way you want to play it, we'll play it that way. Any other advice, while I ask for help from someone I've met once and you've known all your life?"  
  
Spock relaxed slightly. "Sarek will understand that the information we have must be kept as confidential as possible, but we will need for the _Enterprise_ to be at liberty for as long as possible. There is ... another individual ... whose assistance may be necessary if we are to be released from Starfleet obligations for that long."  
  
"T'Pau!" Kirk said.  
  
"Indeed." Spock quirked a brow. "I believe that the joint request of Sarek and T'Pau should be enough to release the _Enterprise_ from routine duties for as long as may be necessary," he said dryly.  
  
"I agree," Kirk said. "As long as no local emergencies crop up, the combined weight of Sarek and T'Pau should be enough to get us assigned to whatever mission Sarek dreams up."  
  
"I should warn you that Sarek will almost certainly have an actual mission for us, one that we will need to carry out in addition to our investigation of the mindworm threat. Vulcans prefer to avoid lying whenever possible, so Sarek's request for the _Enterprise's_ assistance will be a true one; that request will simply be only a portion of the truth, rather than the whole truth.  
  
Kirk sighed and dropped into a chair. "Understood. You know your father's scheduling constraints better than I do.  Do you think I should comm Sarek now, so he has as much notice as possible, or wait until you've had a chance to meld with Hansen, so he has as much information as possible?"  
  
"The more we know about the situation, the more Sarek's overt mission can overlap with our covert mission. I suggest that you call Sarek after I have obtained what information I can from Mr. Hansen."  
  
Kirk nodded, then turned to look at the briefing room door as it swished open.  
  
McCoy bustled in, a case of hypos in his hand. "I've got those phenethylamine hypos you wanted, Jim." McCoy held up a hypo. "This should be the same dose of phenethylamine that was in the 200 grams of chocolate I administered to Spock last night. We don't know whether a smaller dose would work, but we know that one does, so I stuck with it." He handed hypos to the two men, then looked at Spock. "You didn't suffer any ill effects from the chocolate, did you Spock?"  
  
Spock looked mildly affronted at the very thought. "I noticed a slight intoxication, with an accompanying mild impairment to coordination. Given the usual result of a mindworm infestation, I found the treatment to have remarkably few side effects."  
  
McCoy grinned. "I can't believe I've found a treatment that's escaped generations of Vulcans!"  
  
Spock shook his head slightly. "You have not, Doctor. I appreciate your discovery, but it would only be effective in Vulcan hybrids, which is to say, only in myself."  
  
McCoy deflated. "You're kidding!"  
  
Spock looked very nearly sympathetic. "The brain of a full-blooded Vulcan has a much stronger reaction to phenethylamine than my own. Enough of it to completely anesthetize the telepathic centers would also anesthetize the portions of the brain responsible for such things as heartbeat and respiration."  
  
"You mean enough phenethylamine to get rid of the mindworm would kill the patient?"  
  
"Precisely, Doctor."  
  
Kirk smiled. "That means that you're the only Vulcan in existence who can fight the mindworm threat."  
  
Spock nodded. "That does follow from the facts at hand, yes."  
  
Kirk spoke excitedly. "So Vulcan is lucky that you exist! A non-telepathic species can't detect the mindworms, and a telepathic one can't withstand their attacks. Only you can detect them and live."  
  
"That is true, though I fail to see the reason for your excitement."  
  
Kirk smiled fondly at Spock. "We can discuss it later. Let's go interrogate Hansen." He stood, then turned to McCoy. "Can you pass out phenethylamine hypos to the other people who need them?"  
  
McCoy smiled. "I'm way ahead of you there, Jim. You and Spock are the last two people to get them; I've already given phenethylamine hypos to all the medical staff, all the security staff, and all the Bridge officers."  
  
Kirk clapped the doctor on the shoulder. "Good work, Bones! Do you want to be in on Hansen's interrogation?"  
  
"I wouldn't miss it. Not only do I want to know what's going on, but Spock should have two witnesses to the meld, just in case Hansen tries to bring some sort of charges later."  
  
Spock inclined his head. "I agree. And I thank you, Doctor, for your consideration."  
  
Kirk led the way from the briefing room to the turbolift, flanked by his two friends, and told it "Deck Nineteen."  
  
Though Kirk was all business, McCoy couldn't resist needling Spock, now that the Vulcan was fully recovered. "So, Spock," he said, his blue eyes sparkling with mischief, "Most people would find being saved from certain death an emotional experience. But of course a good Vulcan like yourself would feel nothing at all."  
  
"On the contrary," Spock said. He paused for a beat, letting McCoy's curiosity build. "I felt nauseous and slightly uncoordinated." He raised an eyebrow. "Chocolate has that effect on me."  
  
The turbolift doors swished open, revealing the Security section of the _Enterprise._ Kirk led the way to the brig, where the three men saw Matthew Hansen sitting in a cell with his back to the door while Lieutenant Galloway paced the hallway outside the cell.  
  
Kirk looked questioningly at Galloway. "All quiet so far," the security man reported. "No one's been to see him, and he hasn't done anything but sit there."  
  
"Thank you, Lieutenant," Kirk said. "Go ahead and take a fifteen-minute break; we should be with the prisoner for about that long."  
  
"Thank you, Captain," Galloway said as he left in the direction of the nearest food synthesizer.  
  
Kirk pressed the button that disabled the cell's force field, and the three _Enterprise_ officers entered the cell. Hansen sneered when he saw Kirk, but as Spock entered his field of view, his jaw dropped, and he shook his head. "No," Hansen said. He rose from his chair and clutched at Spock's arm. "No, it can't be! You're dead. I killed you!"  
  
Spock gazed impassively at his would-be assassin. "Your celebration was premature, Mr. Hansen. As you can see, I am very much alive." He shook Hansen's hand off of his arm, then tilted his head to study the prisoner's incredulous face.  
  
Hansen clenched his jaw in an unusual maneuver, and Kirk reached for the man's head, wrenching his mouth open and seizing the small capsule that Hansen had been about to swallow. Kirk handed the capsule to McCoy, saying, "When we're done here, you can analyze that. I imagine you'll find it's a quick-acting poison."  
  
McCoy grinned at Kirk. "But not as quick-acting as your reflexes." He nodded in Hansen's direction. "He'll live to face his trial, thanks to you." He carefully deposited the capsule into a vial, then put the vial into the medical kit at his waist.  
  
Kirk turned to Hansen. "A hollow tooth? Isn't that a little old-fashioned? Don't most double agents rely on mental conditioning nowadays?" He pretended surprise. "Oh, that's right, you can't work with telepaths, can you?"  
  
Hansen resumed his seat and stared straight ahead. "Matthew John Hansen. Secretary to Ambassador Chan. Federation citizenship number Alpha1-Sol3-NA-444-62-9885."  
  
Kirk smiled nastily. "Name, rank, and serial number are only the beginning, Hansen. Since our telepath is alive and functioning, your mind will tell us everything we want to know."  
  
Hansen shot out of his chair. "I do not consent!"  
  
Kirk put a hand on Hansen's shoulder and forced him back into his chair. His voice was hard as he said, "You waived your right to withhold consent when you confessed to attempted murder in front of two witnesses."  
  
Spock knelt in front of the prisoner's chair and looked calmly at its occupant. "Mind melds are painless, Mr. Hansen. I do not know what misinformation you may have received about telepathy, but what I am about to do will cause neither pain nor damage."  
  
In spite of Spock's reassurance, Hansen looked terrified, and it took both Kirk and McCoy to hold Hansen in his chair. Spock placed his hands gently on the secretary's face, murmuring "My mind to your mind" as he did so. His eyes closed and his face took on a listening look; then Spock began to speak, his voice hoarse and anguished. "It was only a principle to Sarek, but to me it was my life! My wife, my heart, my reason to get up in the morning. Angie, my angel, how could you be dead?"  
  
His voice changed and became venomous, sounding all the more shocking because the emotion was so at odds with Spock's usual kindness. "Sarek will give me a new reason to live. Take everything he cares about ... millions of his people die ... force him to watch his entire civilization collapse!"  
  
Spock fell silent, moving his lips but not vocalizing, his fingers pressing more firmly against Hansen's face as his eyes moved from side to side under closed lids. Eventually he opened his eyes, sighed heavily, and lifted his hands from Hansen's face. Hansen slumped in his chair, exhaustion on his face.  
  
Kirk looked at McCoy, who ran a portable medical scanner over Hansen's silent form. "He's fine, Jim. He's as tired as if he'd just run ten miles, but he'll be okay after he rests a bit."  
  
Kirk nodded, then looked at Spock. "Did you get what we need?"  
  
Spock looked at his captain, then at the prisoner. "Let us discuss this out of earshot of Mr. Hansen."  
  
"Back to the briefing room, then," Kirk said. The three officers exited the cell, and Kirk pushed the button to re-engage the force field. Lieutenant Galloway was already back on duty, checking the force field as they walked away.  
  
The three of them entered the turbolift for the trip back to the briefing room, and McCoy again turned to Spock. "Spock, there's something I'd like to know, and I'm not teasing this time."  
  
"I am always ready to impart knowledge, Doctor," the Vulcan said.  
  
McCoy was tempted to say, "Hrmph. TOO ready," but since he really wanted an answer to his question, he suppressed it. He looked at Spock. "You called the man who tried to kill you 'MISTER Hansen,' and you took the time to reassure him before the meld. Why would you be so considerate of someone who tried to murder you?"  
  
"It is a matter of respect," Spock said.  
  
"Respect? Why would you have any respect for a murderer?"  
  
Spock shook his head. "You misunderstand me, Doctor. The respect is not for Mr. Hansen, nor for his plans or activities; it is for myself and for the teachings of Surak. I choose to show courtesy and consideration to all sentient creatures because to do otherwise would brutalize my own nature."  
  
McCoy considered this. "You mean you don't want to lower yourself to his level."  
  
"That is ... a human way of phrasing it, but not entirely incorrect."  
  
Kirk smiled at his two friends. "I only wish we all had Spock's strength of character, Bones. But you know who comes closest to following his example? You do."  
  
McCoy looked skeptically at Kirk. "You know I'm not exactly known for gentle talk."  
  
Kirk smiled. "No, I didn't mean you had Spock's ... conversational courtesy. But if it had been you that Hansen had tried to kill, and he'd had a heart attack right afterwards, you'd have worked all night, if necessary, to save his life."  
  
McCoy rubbed the back of his neck. "I guess I would, at that."  
  
Kirk smiled. "You and Spock are brothers under the skin, Bones," he said, just as the turbolift doors opened, allowing him to walk quickly in the direction of the briefing room. Spock's eyebrow was up to his hairline, but he didn't disagree with Kirk, and McCoy groused under his breath as the two blue-shirted men followed in their captain's wake.


	4. Another Telepath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spock tells Kirk and McCoy what he found out in the meld with Hansen, and the boys figure out what to do about it all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for the delay in updating this. I have a chronic illness, which limits how much I can do. I do intend to finish every story I begin, though. Thanks for your patience, and thanks for reading!

* * *

  
**Captain's Log, Stardate 5971.3**   _As soon as Mr. Spock recovered fully from the mindworm attack, he performed a Vulcan mind-meld on Matthew Hansen, his would-be murderer and the secretary to Ambassador Chan.  We must learn the details of the plot against Vulcan while keeping everyone in the dark about how much we know.  Given how highly placed one conspirator is, we do not know who we can trust; even Spock suggests that we share our knowledge with as few people as possible, including our superiors at Starfleet Command.  I trust that Starfleet Command will vindicate this course of action once the threat to Vulcan has been eliminated and the conspirators arrested._

  
Back in the briefing room, Spock turned to Kirk.  "Captain, I have two urgent recommendations.  I will detail the facts and chain of reasoning that led to these recommendations shortly, but I believe the need for action is pressing."  
  
"Your recommendations are usually good ones, Mr. Spock," Kirk said.  "I'm willing to take immediate action if you think it's necessary.  What needs to be done?"  
  
"It is essential that we proceed no further towards our destination.  However, it is also essential that we do not alert everyone aboard to that fact by stopping the ship.  Hence, I suggest that we follow a meandering course along the route we have just traversed."  
  
Kirk blinked.  "You want the _Enterprise_ to fly in circles, Mr. Spock?"  
  
"Yes, Captain.  Only for a short time, until our plans for further action are finalized.  A few hours, at most."  
  
"Very well."  Kirk punched the button on the nearest intercom and called the Bridge, giving orders to Chekov.  
  
Chekov's voice came through the intercom.  "Captain, that course will take us..."  
  
"I'm quite aware of where that course will take us, Ensign," Kirk snapped.  "Plot the course _exactly as given_ and have Mr. Sulu lay it in at once!"  
  
Chekov's eagerness to comply could be heard even through the intercom.  "Yes, Captain.  Right away, sir!"  
  
Kirk punched the intercom button again and turned back to Spock.  "What's the second recommendation?"  
  
"This one is for Dr. McCoy."  Spock turned to the physician.  "I recommend that Mr. Hansen be sedated and kept deeply unconscious for the next several days."  
  
McCoy looked skeptically at Spock.  "There's no medical need to sedate that man."  
  
"Ah, but there is, Doctor.  If he is not sedated, there is a non-negligible probability that he will either die or go insane within a very short time.  It is also quite possible that everyone on this ship will also die unless Mr. Hansen is very deeply unconscious."  Spock looked solemnly at McCoy.  "Saving his life is within your purview, and that should give you the justification you require for the procedure."  
  
"Do it, Bones," Kirk said.    
  
McCoy nodded and was about to leave the room when Spock put a hand on his arm and said, "It would be best if you had one of your nurses sedate him, preferably one with as little knowledge of the situation as possible."  As McCoy opened his mouth, Spock added, "I will explain all of this to your satisfaction later, but these actions are time-sensitive."  
  
McCoy grimaced, then went to the intercom in his turn and gave orders to Nurse Tanaka, ensuring that Hansen would be sedated as deeply as was possible without killing him.  
  
Spock's precautions complete, the three men seated themselves around the briefing room table, and Kirk turned to Spock.  "It sounds like you found more than you bargained for in Hansen's mind."  
  
Spock did not pretend to misunderstand the idiom.  "I found that I was not the first telepath to visit that mind, and the identity of the previous telepath explained why my murder was essential to the conspiracy."  
  
"But Hansen was afraid of telepathy," McCoy said.  "He would never have consented to that."  
  
Spock shook his head.  "Vulcan ethics around the practice of telepathy are not universal, Doctor.  Mr. Hansen not only did not consent to the previous contact, he had no knowledge of it.  I saw the traces of it in his mind, not the memory of it."  
  
Kirk said, "The identity of that previous telepath has you scrambling in a way that I've rarely seen before.  Who is it?  What has you so spooked?"  
  
Spock raised an affronted eyebrow.  "I am not 'spooked,' Captain, but I _am_ exercising reasonable caution, given my previous contact with the race of telepaths in question."  He clasped his hands on the table in front of him.  "My execution was a necessary first step in the conspiracy because I am the only telepath extant who can recognize the mental signature of a Talosian."  
  
"A Talosian!" McCoy said.  "You mean a person from Talos IV, that place where we took Christopher Pike?"  
  
"Yes, Doctor."  
  
Kirk said, "I knew the Talosians could create illusions, but I didn't realize that they could enter a person's mind and operate on it directly."  
  
Spock shook his head.  "Nor was I aware that they could do so.  It is possible that their mental abilities are not uniform, that this is an ability possessed by a Talosian that the crew of the _Enterprise_ did not meet on our initial visit to that planet."  He looked soberly at Kirk.  "I was in telepathic contact with the Keeper during our last visit to Talos IV, and I recognize the Talosian signature.  It is not the Keeper who operated on Mr. Hansen's mind — it is another Talosian — and I believe that he or she did so without the Keeper's knowledge."  
  
"And you suggested that the ship fly in circles so our course to drop off Ambassador Chan wouldn't take us any closer to Talos IV," Kirk said.  
  
"Correct.  It is my belief — because it is the Keeper's belief — that the Keeper's mind has the greatest range of any Talosian.  We are not currently within that range, but if we venture any closer to Talos IV, we will be.  If the Talosian who operated on Mr. Hansen's mind has a range that is as great as the Keeper's, moving closer to the planet would be unwise.  And if it should turn out that his range is greater than the Keeper's, then we are not safe from him, even now."  
  
McCoy said, "That's why you wanted Hansen sedated, so that this Talosian couldn't look into his mind and gain the knowledge that we're aware of the conspiracy."  
  
Spock nodded.  "Correct."  
  
Kirk frowned.  "But Hansen isn't the only one who knows that; all of the Bridge crew knows.  You haven't suggested sedating me, or McCoy, or Scotty."  
  
"Telepathic contact at an extreme distance is more feasible when one has already had contact with the mind in question.  It is likely that only Mr. Hansen's mind would be accessible from this distance."  
  
Kirk considered this.  "So we keep our distance and keep Hansen sedated.  But then what?  That might keep us safe, but it won't attack the basic problem."  
  
" _IF_ the Keeper's evaluation of his abilities is correct, I will be able to contact him at some distance from the planet, before coming into a range where I would be detectable by any other Talosian.  I will keep my mental shields in full force until I attempt such contact, in case the Keeper's range is matched by this other Talosian, so as to prevent the revelation of our plans and knowledge."  
  
Kirk said, "But we can't contact anyone on Talos IV; General Order Seven prohibits it!"  
  
"If you will examine the exact wording of General Order Seven, I believe you will find that it prohibits _visiting_ Talos IV or contacting that planet _by any known technology._ Telepathic contact is not mentioned in the order, and since such contact relies on no known technology, it is not explicitly prohibited, provided that I do not visit the planet to achieve it."  Spock tilted his head slightly to one side.  "The human-centric nature of Starfleet is useful in this instance; since humans are incapable of telepathic contact, it did not occur to them to prohibit it."  
  
Kirk smiled.  "As always, your detailed knowledge of regulations is very useful, Mr. Spock."  He frowned and thought for a second.  "But why would we need to get any closer to Talos IV for you to contact the Keeper?  When you kidnapped Christopher Pike from Starbase Eleven, the Keeper was able to make me see Commodore Mendez at a greater distance from Talos than we are now."  
  
Spock looked slightly embarrassed by the turn the conversation had taken.  "During that occasion, the Keeper joined his mind to mine and was able to use my proximity to you to create those illusions."  
  
Kirk's eyes widened.  "You allowed the Keeper to use your mind as a relay point?"  
  
"I did.  I was not sanguine about doing so, but it was necessary."  Spock straightened in his chair.  "That is not an option in the current situation, however, since the Keeper and I have not been in contact since that time.  There is no longer a link between our minds, and I will need to be considerably closer to the planet now than I was then in order to contact him."  
  
Kirk frowned.  "But you're keeping us away from Talos IV."  
  
"Yes, Jim.  I believe that the Keeper's mind has the greatest range of any Talosian, but if that belief is incorrect, and the Talosian who is working with Mr. Hansen has a greater range, then this ship and everyone aboard her could be enslaved or killed by that Talosian.  The logical solution to this uncertainty is for me to take a shuttlecraft into contact range, while the _Enterprise_ remains at a safer distance."  
  
McCoy spoke up.  "But if the Talosians have turned against Vulcans, why contact the Keeper?  Why give them another shot at you?"  
  
"'Them,' Doctor?"  Spock shook his head.  "I have never understood the human tendency to view all members of a given race as identical.  The Talosians, like most humanoids, vary as much as humans do.  Some have one opinion, some another.  Some are more intelligent, some less so.  Some support the policies of the current Talosian leaders, and some do not.  Furthermore, there are a handful of insane members in any humanoid group.  We have no evidence that the Talosian who operated on Mr. Hansen's mind is anything but a rogue element in his society, much the way that Mr. Hansen is in your own."  Spock raised an admonishing brow.  "You could well ask why I talk with you now, given that 'humans' have already tried to kill me."  
  
Kirk steered the meeting back to practicalities.  "What else did you get from Hansen's mind, Spock?  Any idea who he's working with or where they are?"  
  
"Mr. Hansen is what humans would call a 'small fish,' Captain, which I believe is why he was encouraged to confess after his murder attempt.  He knows only the identity of his contact, which is Ambassador Chan's chief of staff, Kathleen Brennan."  
  
" _Encouraged_ to confess!" Kirk said.  
  
"Yes.  The memory of Ms. Brennan's encouraging Mr. Hansen to 'strike fear into their hearts' by confessing was quite strong; it appears that she did so on more than one occasion."  
  
"I don't hold with murder," McCoy said, "But I can't help feeling a bit sorry for Hansen now; it sounds as if he was used and discarded by the conspiracy."  
  
Spock nodded.  "Agreed.  I find myself wondering if his wife's murder could have been engineered, in order to fashion him into the single-use weapon he became."  
  
Kirk waved a hand.  "We don't have time to get into that; we need to concentrate on unraveling the threat to Vulcan.  We have two leads:  an unknown Talosian, who may be a rogue Talosian or may be working with other Talosians, and Kathleen Brennan."  
  
"Do we know anything about Kathleen Brennan?" McCoy asked.  "I'd heard of Ambassador Chan before she came aboard, but I've never heard of any of her staff."  
  
"Computer!" Kirk said.  "Summarize the information known about Kathleen Brennan, Chief of Staff to Ambassador Chan."  
  
"Working.  Born Kathleen Fiona Brennan on July 16, 2225 on Earth in city of Derry.  Parents Fiona Gallagher and Carrick Brennan.  One sibling, younger brother, Brian Brennan.  Graduated University of Oxford in 2247 with BA in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics.  Employed as administrator in local governments in an increasingly responsible capacity from 2247 until 2253.  Employed as secretary by Ambassador Fox from 2253 until 2258.  Employed as staff manager by Ambassador Rodriguez from 2258 until 2266.  Employed as chief of staff by Ambassador Chan from 2266 until the present time."  
  
Kirk frowned.  "That doesn't give us much to go on."  He looked at Spock.    
  
"Agreed.  I suggest that I consult with the Keeper, in an attempt to gather additional information from the Talos segment of the conspiracy, while you and Dr. McCoy consult with Ambassador Chan on ways to gain information from Ms. Brennan."  
  
Kirk looked at Spock in concern.  "Alone in a shuttlecraft, you'll have no recourse if attacked.  You'll be taking a rather large risk to consult with the Keeper."  
  
Spock's eyes crinkled at the corners.  "Jim, a wise man once told me that 'Risk is our business.'  And I believe the circumstances justify this particular risk."  
  
Kirk smiled unwillingly.  "They do.  But be careful."  
  
Spock gazed fondly at his commanding officer.  "I will ask you to remember that advice on our next landing party."  
  
McCoy laughed.  "He's got you there, Jim."  
  
Spock rose and left the room, heading for the shuttle bay.  
  
  


 


End file.
